I was going to post as soon as I got home last night, but I arrived to discover that Rogers Cable was having server/router troubles, and we had no connection to the Internet until this morning. Anyway, here's what I came up with last night:

Anything I say will be inadequate, so I won't try very hard. I didn't think it was possible for a film to be this good. I knew everything that was going to happen (aside from a few departures from the text), and still I was on the edge of my seat. At the end of the movie, there was not a dry eye in the house, and we had a standing ovation for Peter Jackson's opus. Just thinking about it now, 9 hours later, I still get shivers.

I was, by turns, stunned, terrified, crushed, breathless, sobbing, terrified again, grinning like a madman, rejoicing, and terrified some more. [Laurie, when we see it tonight, you will be frightened. -- Ed.] The film did what I thought was impossible. It lived up to its hype. After disappointment in The Matrix trilogy, after disappointment in Star Wars prequels, this is like an oasis of perfection in a desert of failure.

Did I have quibbles? Mmmm...perhaps. But they were all about what was not included, and I'm absolutely certain those concerns will be addressed when they put the 50 minutes removed from the original 4 hour cut back into the Extended Edition DVD.

I told Art and James (housemates) last night: "If you do not see this movie, your life is hollow and meaningless." Sure, that was superlative and exaggeration (movies can't give your life meaning)...but not by much! As I watched the climaxes (one after another after another), I whispered to myself, "Peter Jackson, you are brilliant!" It's true. There is now officially no excuse for the Academy to award anyone else Best Director, and there's absolutely no reason to even nominate any other film for Best Picture. Lord of the Rings wins in a walk.
-- posted by Austin @ 11:32 AM (PermaLink/Comment) ¶